


Silence from the Outer Space

by Lyonadono



Category: Captain Harlock
Genre: M/M, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 19:30:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3459155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyonadono/pseuds/Lyonadono
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'“It's useless to think more about it”, he breathed, his voice even lower than usual. “The answer won't come anyway. There are those things in space that can't be explained when we're human beings. That's a reality we must accept.”'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silence from the Outer Space

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt from Tumblr : “write about them in a danger situation where Yama is about to die but Harlock rescues him just in time so he starts crying because he was scared and then they hug each other”.
> 
> But I took some liberties with it. And couldn't find a way to make Yama cry. D:

An uninterrupted purring was escorting Yama's steps as he walked down the corridors of the Arcadia. This never-ending sound which had seemed unbearable, irritating the first days, as no other ship ever made, was now rocking his moves ; now, he could not calmly wander across the ship without it. This slight buzzing was indicating that the ship was keeping on his eternal travel, that it was living. On a more realistic view, the young man had came to the conclusion that the dark matter should be the origin of this sound. He had not invested more than that ; keeping a conversation with Miime was hopeless, and about Harlock... he just avoided asking him questions about the ship.

Yama should meet him, with Kei and Yattaran, on the bridge. He did not know their current destination, or even if they had one, but, in any way, he had understood that their way had crossed something which had not been planned.

So he was a bit disappointed when he entered the room. Well, disappointed... at least the situation was calm, no enemy ship to come, which was not that unpleasant... In front of the Arcadia, at a distance away, a ship was drifting, without any sign indicating that it was still working, nor even if there was someone alive on board. In other words, a wreck, it seemed. The situation was not exceptional ; some accidents or dysfunctions could happen, costing whole crew's lives, sentenced to float all over the universe for eternity. Unless they were found, luckily or miraculously ; but the ocean that space was forming was a lot bigger, a lot deeper than what the sailors had once known on planet Earth.

Though the captain seemed interested by the ship. And Yattaran looked perplexed. So the young man made a few steps towards the center of the room to inquire about the situation. The small man with glasses was the fastest to understand the silent question :

“We just crossed the path of this ship. An old model, and it seems it's been drifting along for at least half of a century. The analysis is sill in progress. However..."

“Part of the data we have is not coherent, Kei finished. We got a source... of energy let's say. It doesn't emit any heat and there doesn't seem to be any sign of life there. And about an engine... nothing could let us identify a model or the way it could work.”

“In plain language, there's something, it's on the scan, but we have no idea what it could be.”

“So you're thinking about checking what it is directly there ?”, Yama asked while turning towards Harlock, who was standing in the middle of the room, silent.

“Of course, Kei replied, faking surprise. We never know, maybe we'll find something interesting.”

Yama bent down towards the screen, where the young woman was standing. As the analysis was getting close to its end, a bright point was appearing more and more precisely, indicating that something not entirely inert was in the wreck, whatever it was. But the results of the scan were definitely puzzling : this signal was not coming from a heat source, and even less from a living one. The young man then thought about a type of rock or, at least, of a material coming from a still quite unknown part of the universe. Of course the crew would be interested ; even more if it could be a new wealth.

\----------------------------------------------------

A few men were appointed to examine the place and bring back on board everything that could be useful. Yama was part of them ; and, to his great surprise, the captain decided to come himself. Taken by curiosity, he decided he would follow him.

Putting on the full armors was not needed in such a situation ; they just took the equipment to breath in the ship which was obviously not supplied with oxygen anymore. Indeed, it looked like it had been deserted from any human soul for a very long time : the halls they followed were dilapidated and eaten away by time. Pieces of scrap iron and other metallic walls were lying on the ground, letting one guess a violent collision that would have certainly leaded to the crew's loss. Nothing else, though, in the rooms they crossed, as if some looters had already got there first. And yet there was this signal...

“It should be in one of those three rooms, Kei suddenly said as they were turning in a part of the hall leading to three different doors. I could not exactly say which one but it's around here. But it's strange, the signal seemed a lot stronger before.”

Two of the said doors were entirely opening to them ; one of them looked even like it got out of its rails, as if it has been forced open. The last one, though, had stopped half in its way, while opening or closing, but there was enough space to let someone thin cross it. Kei reached the second one first.

“The engine room”, she announced while crossing the threshold then stepping away to let the others enter.

This room had nothing like the main computer of the Arcadia : it was of a humble size and looking more archaic, and seemed like it used a lot less advanced technologies. However, it looked a lot more like a room holding the main elements of engineering of a space ship than the jungle of wires that was Captain Harlock's one...

They quickly walked around the machines, without any real interest. Everything was too old and the lack of maintenance for such a long time should have made the material unable to work. Obviously, what they were looking for was not in this place. Yama was also starting to doubt his theory about the unknown material ; it had nothing to do in such a ship.

Seeing the captain make a few steps outside of the room, he followed him with a questioning look : 

 

“Do you have any idea about what it could be ?”

Harlock looked like he was thinking for a moment, silently, his eyes turned to the young man. He could certainly expect an evasive answer, with such a glare... But he did not had the time to hear any sound from him.

A noise, sounding deafening in the silence of the place, suddenly crossed the ship. Then a quivering of the floor made them stumble. Finally a cry of surprise from Kei. Yama hurried to get back to the engine room. He stayed speechless for a moment, in front of the sight inside : luminous signals were bursting out from everywhere, some blinking, others flickering, suddenly and irrationally supplied, in a way or another.

“How...?, Kei exclaimed, flabbergasted. This ship has nothing of a Death Shadow type ! It's not supposed to be supplied with energy !”

“Kei, go check if the Arcadia is well anchored.”

Harlock's tone had something pressing. He did not look like he understood this sudden functioning either. Yama did not listen to him, though. He had looked at Kei as she was getting away with a quick step. And he thought he had seen something, certainly someone, walking down the hall, in the opposite direction. He thought he saw him furtively snaking into the room with the half open door. Or at least he could tell that what he saw had disappeared there. Was someone here before they reached this ship ? And was this said ship really a wreck ?

Not taking the time to inform anyone, fearing he could lose the individual, he rushed forward. The room he was then standing in could have not been identified : all traces of furniture or engine had disappeared. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, everything was empty ; nothing more than smooth walls and hardly any remains on the floor. No other exit either, expect from the one he used. At least, that was then the case. With the grinding noise of old, worn out circuits, the door finished closing.

Taken by a rush of panic that surprised him, Yama rushed to the door and tried with both of his hands to make it slide, forgetting momentarily about any opening system. In vain. When the idea of starting this system manually came to his mind, his heart missed a beat as he realized it was stuck.

And he felt frozen. It was not like he was feeling the temperature around him, but this coldness felt like it was coming from himself, emitting from the deepest part of his body. The young man turned around, trying to get his calm back. What was happening ? And why was he reacting this way ? Plus, he was definitely alone... No one had came here and he had locked himself all alone. And this feeling of coldness was unbearable... He felt taken by dizziness. The air was starting to lack too... But the oxygen equipment was still working... His view was blurry... And was there really no one here ? He was suffocating. He had the feeling he could make out something in front of him. Someone...? No, could he not see across it ? Or was he raving ? He should get out of here... But he could not move anymore. He was paralyzed by an invisible strength. And this panic... it felt like it was not his. Or... What...? He did not know anymore. He did not see anything anymore. He was not feeling anything anymore. Just a distant sound of explosion, and then it was really unconsciousness.

When the young pirate opened his eyes again, his mind was too dizzy by a multitude of foreign images for him to realize the situation or the place he was in. But he felt panic and coldness very quickly. A heat source was standing against him, though. A fit of unexplained anxiety made him jump backwards, but a firm hand prevented him from moving. The voice that called him then helped him to regain consciousness :

“Yama...?”

Harlock's gaze then crossed his, bent down above him. Now Yama could feel the arm that was not keeping him still holding his back, putting him in a half-sitting position. The feeling was burning against his freezing body... After what he saw... An impetus, as thoughtless as the previous one, made him rush forward, against this warmth. One of his hands climbed to the captain's arm and, before he could register or calculate his own moves, his forehead was landing against the inside of the collar of the cape. His right hand came against the chest under him, feeling the thin lines of the muscles under his fingers. He did not know what he was doing, but his mind could manage to calm down only with great difficulties. He was short of breath.

Yama stayed this way, not moving, enjoying the light feeling of a few strands of hair from the captain against his cheek. The said one was not moving, was not flinching either, in a perfectly immobile wait. Slowly the ex soldier was feeling calm getting back to him, to slowly let the place to the realization of the situation he was in... Heat reached him back very fast to gather in his cheeks.

Hurriedly, he stood up, moving Harlock's hand away with a quick movement. However his strength could not hold him and he had to stay, leaning all of his weight, against the arm holding his back.

The captain then deigned moving and he felt the other hand slide under his knees. Mortified, he struggled when feeling pushed back with strength against the thin and powerful pirate's body. The said one did not insist and calmly turned towards Yama's crimson face.

“Can you walk ?”, he simply asked.

This was not exactly a question and the young man was suspecting it ; he was hardly feeling his legs and the mere try to move them was giving him dizziness. But he nodded with all of the vigor he still had. Letting the captain hold him to the ship was out of the question. The cape was preventing him from taking him on his back easily but... absolutely not this way !

As the soldier was trying the get some order in his crazed thoughts, Harlock stood back up. He firmly grabbed one of his arms and, soon, Yama was finding himself on his two stumbling legs. He hardly caught the shoulder before him in order to not fall back immediately.

The first steps were of a painful difficulty, and somewhat humiliating after he rejected the captain's proposition. But he made them nonetheless ; and his head was starting to stop spinning and his strength was slowly coming back to him. Not enough to walk with a quick and firm pace, but at least enough to slightly limp with a modest speed. Hardly a few words were shared between Yama and anyone else, and he was grateful he could go back to his room.

\----------------------------------------------------

But sleep was impossible to find. He was vaguely dozing, but his mind could not force itself to calm down and let him really rest. At least, the young man was feeling better physically. Any feeling of dizziness had disappeared. But about his emotions, things were much different...

He did not understand what had happened, neither when did reality stopped to become hallucinations generated by his mind. Dozens of different things had crossed him, crazed and sharp feelings, confusing, painful images, and maybe memories too. As if his whole life had suddenly passed before his eyes. Or rather... like a bad dream he could not remember, but the commotion it had caused stayed anchored into him. Among all of that, though, he was certain that Nami and Ezra had appeared...

Yama sat up on his sheets realizing that his hands were shaking. Keeping bringing up all of that was useless anyway. He hardly remembered it, and the more he was trying to recall it the more everything was escaping from him, more unclear and far away that what it had seemed. His thoughts stopped defaulting only from the moment Harlock made him regain consciousness. Even though he would have liked to forget this part... He had literally thrown himself into his arms without thinking... Because he had been really _afraid_.

The young man swiftly shook his head for a brief instant, his bangs lashing his reddened cheeks. Too much opposed thoughts were brutalizing one another under his skull, he was already starting to feel the headache. Forgetting all of them for a moment and going out to change his mind elsewhere would surely be for the best. He could go inquire about the rest of the operations in this ghost ship, ask if they eventually determined the identity of the object the scan had localized, as if nothing had happened...

He carefully put his legs on the floor and waited for the first dizziness to stop before trying to get up. Good news, his legs obeyed him a lot more firmly than previously. He went into the corridor. But quickly, the silence of the ship, or at least the lack of any sputter or footfall, either hurried or stumbling, apprised him. Was everyone sleeping ? Had he stayed in bed for so long ? His state had been such that the idea would not be surprising. Yama sped up nonetheless.

A human noise eventually reached his ears. Snoring. A man was deeply sleeping in a corner of the corridor, his back against the wall and a bottle, of sake obviously, hanging from the tip of his fingers. Any form of worry left him. This man had been part of the team in charge of exploring the wreck. So they were back. And not too disturbed or banged-up to be able to go immediately toasting joyfully.

So everyone was sleeping. But he could not do it himself. His legs started again their wandering by themselves, looking for an occupation. Instinctively, they orientated him towards the control room of the ship. They could have only lead him here or to the central computer, in this situation, if the young pirate was looking for company. Deep inside, maybe he was starting to believe in this story of a ship endowed with its own conscience.

Yama though stopped before entering the large room. A voice had reached his ears ; Harlock's one. He was discussing something, but seemed alone. Had he felt the need to occupy his mind and found only the ship to help him with it at such an hour too ?

At least Yama had the company he was looking for. He rather liked coming upon him in his soliloquy instead of suffering from loneliness for now. Then, with a firm step, he entered the room, as if he had heard nothing.

The captain immediately got quiet when hearing his steps and slowly turned his head to him. He stopped right away, suddenly a lot less at ease, waiting for a reaction. But Harlock simply turned back towards the wide starry spread the ship was opening to, contemplative for a long time. Yama made a few indecisive steps towards the middle of the room.

“So did... did you find what you were looking for ?”, he tried with a lower voice that he would have intended.

A few minutes of silence passed again. But the two men simply waited. He knew that the answer would come.

“In a way, yes. We couldn't find it physically though.”

“So you left empty-handed ?”

“At least physically.”

He stared at the top of the high collar of the captain's cape with questioning eyes. What did he mean by using the repeated word “physically” ? The nebulous form he may have seen in the abandoned spatial ship then came to his mind again. Could it be linked ?

His knees felt like jelly for an instant. He leaned upon the armrest of the crimson armchair. Harlock then turned away on his feet to look at his almost-double.

“It's useless to think more about it”, he breathed, his voice even lower than usual. “The answer won't come anyway. There are those things in space that can't be explained when we're human beings. That's a reality we must accept.”

Slowly, with his long and flexible pace, the man made a few steps towards Yama, his gaze impenetrable. Seeing him this way, coming closer, brutally forced the young man to remember their closeness a few hours earlier. A sudden heat took his cheeks and he turned his eyes away, unable to hold this fiery gaze. He did not know if he should wait, stuck against the armrest, or stepping back from fear to feel this imposing presence too close. When did he even start fearing him ? He should be really disturbed to react this way... Well, more than fear, the soldier knew well that he was feeling a deep embarrassment. Though it was as much unexplained.

Before he could take a decision about the behavior he should have, Yama finally found himself in front of the captain, around one inch away. Then less than one inch. Then a hot breath on his ear. A hand on his shoulder dragged a shudder from him, he welcomed it with a certain pleasure. The sound of a short sentence landed pleasantly on his eardrums. He could not understand it, but it sounded like it spoke about warmness, and in the same time about dead ones. His brain was not reacting anymore again, like in the ship they had came alongside, but this time, the numbness did not came from any sensation of cold, on the contrary ; and it was also a lot nicer to feel...

Eventually, Yama managed to raise his brown eyes. As soon as he did their gaze met. And, not knowing how, he did not need other moves or indications to understand. He let the distance between them getting entirely reduced and loosened his arms, which had been contracting on the armchair behind him, to slide them against the back of the captain's neck, a few fingers entwining in a strand of hair.

A corner of his mind was surprised to not lose any track of time then. On the opposite, he was still conscious of every second that was passing, tasting those lips that were burning him. Each passing instant, he knew it, lead him to more than what he would have wanted. But whatever ; what he would have wanted was not what he wanted. Anyway, he could not get enough of this breath against his face already.

His premonitions got real rather quickly – or maybe track of time really ended escaping from him – when those lips left his, to his great regret, to lie on the skin of his neck, which had gotten oddly sensible. The young man knew that it was at this moment he should have gotten away from the embrace. But all he could do was sighing, in a way far from disapproval, and titling his head to let a better access to the vulnerable space under his jaw for the caresses.

He was feeling the man's body right against his. The pressure made him step backwards against the armchair, so much that the young pirate found himself partially sitting on the armrest, a hand firmly holding the backrest, the other seeking his balance against the legendary outlaw's neck, and legs firmly tightening around his. A slight, still unintentional, friction against his hips was making him shudder. A quick realization of the situation hit him when a muffled moan escaped from his lips. Yet it was only for a short instant ; a hot and wet feeling immediately replaced the slight – but so much intoxicating – pain on his neck. A remainder of reason made him hope that any mark likely to stay some time would situate on a place usually hidden by his collar, currently pushed away without ceremony.

As suddenly as it had take possession of his body, the warmness then disappeared. Harlock stood up. His expression was still calm but Yama had the feeling he could detect something different in his only visible eye. Then something inquiring. He understood that the choice was open to him when the captain made a few steps towards the corridor, without getting his eye off him. Decision was not long to take. His judgment was certainly distorted and his reason disturbed by his state but he would think about it the next day.

\----------------------------------------------------

And it was not after the night he spent in the captain's bedroom that he could sincerely feel remorse. Not after tasting the deep sensuality which was implying the proximity of an intimate contact with him. Even less after seeing this particular contraction the features of his face had been forced to. Seeing him this way again became a necessity, at the risk of obsession or addiction to come. But whatever, the possibility sounded too much tantalizing.


End file.
